The Qur'an in Medieval Europe
Nowadays, the Qur’an
is available in every western language, but it was originally written in
Arabic. In the twelfth century, it was translated into Latin by Robert of
Ketton, an English translator who moved to Toledo, Spain. The translation was
commissioned by Peter the Venerable, the abbot of the French Cluny. But why did
he order to translate the Qur’an, while he was an influential, Christian abbot?
The translation of Robert of Ketton, the Lex
Mahumet Pseudoprophete or the law of Mohammed, the false prophet, was the
first translation in a western language, but definitely not the last. The Islam
originated in the seventh century and grew very fast. In 711 they started to
conquer the Iberian Peninsula and they got further north. But even though the
Muslims invaded Europe from the eighth century onwards, the Qur’an didn’t get
translated until the twelfth century. In this article, I will examine the circulation of the Qur’an in Christian Europe from the twelfth century, why it was translated and how Christians viewed the Islam in the Dark Ages.
Twelfth-Century Europe
In the twelfth century, the western part of Europe changed a lot. Christianity still played a very important role, but the influence of the Islam also grew strongly. Europe was very prosperous in this century: cities grew, the agriculture flourished and the first universities sprang. Because of the increasing trade, Europe came even more closely in contact with the Islamic east and from the twelfth century onwards Christianity had to come up with an answer towards the new religion. A lot of texts were translated in order to get new knowledge from the east and Islam.
At the end of the eleventh century, the Crusades took place. This was also a reason for closer contact with the east and the Islam. Crusaders from all over Europe traveled to Jerusalem and the Holy Country to conquer these lands in name of Christianity. But the Crusades did not contribute to the knowledge of the Islam: they were purely military missions, although they were initiated by the pope. The pope actually lost control over the armies and the crusaders went on a military mission instead of a religious mission. Against all expectations, the Crusades were no reason to delve into the Islam more. Trade and other ways of contact with the Muslims formed the most important reason to dig into the new, Islamic religion.
Before the twelfth century, Western Europe viewed Islam as a military tread instead of a religious tread. But in Eastern Europe, Byzantium, they did see that the Arabs had a new religion and there were texts about the Muslims. John of Damascus (676-749) wrote a very important book: About Heresies. In this book he wrote about over a hundred different heresies, and one of them was the Islam. He wrote that the Qur’an was completely made up by Mohammed and described the Islam as wrong and false. In the twelfth century, the text of John of Damascus also circulated in Western Europe, but before then, Western Europe was not very farmiliar with the Islam. Peter the Venerable wanted to change that and started his own study.
Twelfth-Century Europe
In the twelfth century, the western part of Europe changed a lot. Christianity still played a very important role, but the influence of the Islam also grew strongly. Europe was very prosperous in this century: cities grew, the agriculture flourished and the first universities sprang. Because of the increasing trade, Europe came even more closely in contact with the Islamic east and from the twelfth century onwards Christianity had to come up with an answer towards the new religion. A lot of texts were translated in order to get new knowledge from the east and Islam.
At the end of the eleventh century, the Crusades took place. This was also a reason for closer contact with the east and the Islam. Crusaders from all over Europe traveled to Jerusalem and the Holy Country to conquer these lands in name of Christianity. But the Crusades did not contribute to the knowledge of the Islam: they were purely military missions, although they were initiated by the pope. The pope actually lost control over the armies and the crusaders went on a military mission instead of a religious mission. Against all expectations, the Crusades were no reason to delve into the Islam more. Trade and other ways of contact with the Muslims formed the most important reason to dig into the new, Islamic religion.
Before the twelfth century, Western Europe viewed Islam as a military tread instead of a religious tread. But in Eastern Europe, Byzantium, they did see that the Arabs had a new religion and there were texts about the Muslims. John of Damascus (676-749) wrote a very important book: About Heresies. In this book he wrote about over a hundred different heresies, and one of them was the Islam. He wrote that the Qur’an was completely made up by Mohammed and described the Islam as wrong and false. In the twelfth century, the text of John of Damascus also circulated in Western Europe, but before then, Western Europe was not very farmiliar with the Islam. Peter the Venerable wanted to change that and started his own study.
Peter the Venerable and the Lex Mahumet Pseudoprophete
Peter the Venerable was a French abbot in Cluny, which was a very important abbey in Europe from the tenth century onwards. Peter traveled a lot and in in the 1140’s he went to Toledo, Spain. In Toledo, he gathered a team of five translators: Robert of Ketton, Herman of Carinthia, Peter of Toledo, Peter of Poitiers and a Muslim by the name Mohammed. Peter gave them the command to translate different, Islamic texts for his own study. The most important work was the translation of the Qur’an by Robert of Ketton.
Robert of Ketton (1110-57) was a well-known translator, but he mostly translated scientific works. He made an exeption by translating the Qur’an for Peter the Venerable. His work was named the Lex Mahumet Pseudoprophete: the law of Mohammed, the false prophet. It was not a strict translation, but Robert tried to interpret the work the same way that Muslims in his opinion would. He also changed the division of the Qur’an from 114 suras to 123 chapters. A lot of critics stated that he made a lot of errors because he wanted to deceive: the Islam was wrong and he wanted to exaggerate that in his translation. But there is a lot of discussion about that: Thomas Burman, by example, states that Robert did not want to deceive, but just made some mistakes. He wanted to show how Muslims interpreted the Islam, instead of just translating it. The Qur’an is a difficult text, even for Muslims, and he just wanted to explain some points in his version of the Qur’an. Also, his version was written in a very complex Latin. If Robert wanted to deceive and make the Islam look bad, why would he write it in such a difficult and high-pitched language? Burman concluded that Robert did not want to deceive, but just made some honest mistakes, which was logical because the text is so hard to understand. But a lot of historians do not agree: Robert did pervert the text, and he was negative about the Islam, just like Peter the Venerable.
Peter indeed was not very positive about the Islam. He wrote that Mohammed was supported by the Devil and that he only got a lot of followers because they feared Mohammed. Peter also describes the Islam as a heresy. But that shows that Peter actually did not know what the Islam was exactly. It was not a heresy within Christianity, it was a new religion, but in the twelfth century, that was not recognized. Everybody viewed the Islam as a heresy within Christianity, and it was often compared with Arianism. But although Peter the Venerable was not very positive about Islam, his view was unique. He was the first that based his opinion on actual, Islamic texts instead of myths and stories. He used those texts to prove that the Islam was wrong and incorrect. This had not been done before and that made him very important for the view of Islam in whole of Western Europe. The translation of the Qur’an was also very important, thus Peter, because it was necessary for Christians to understand the Islam and to be able to disprove it. He got the Qur’an translated, so Christians in Europe could study the Islam. Peter also thought that the Islam should not be fought with violence, but with reason and words. To be able to do so, knowledge of Islam was needed.
The distribution of the first Qur’an
In 1143 the translation of Robert of Ketton was completed and the first one to use this text was Peter the Venerable. He used the Qur’an to write two books on his own: the Summa and the Liber. It is known that the Summa was read by Thomas of Aquino (1225-1274): an important Christian in Italy. The Lex Mahumet also found its way throughout Europe, especially trough France. The oldest manuscript we have today is from the late twelfth century and we think it is an exact copy of the actual work without adjustments. There are almost twenty other copies preserved, so it is very likely that the Lex Mahumet was well-known throughout the Dark Ages. The only strange fact is that there came another translation in the early thirteenth century, also in Spain, by Mark of Toledo. Some historians say that this translation was made, because the Lex Mahumet was not available in Spain at the time. Mark never even mentions the translation of Robert of Ketton, so perhaps the translation did not circulate in Spain. From the translation of Mark, we now have six manuscripts, so we can state that his translation was less well-known than the translation of Robert of Ketton. Most likely, the translation of Robert circulated mostly through France and the North of Europe, while the translation of Mark was more popular in Spain and Italy.
Another reason why it is plausible that the translation of Robert did circulate in the Dark Ages, is that it appeared in a printed version in 1543 by Theodor Bibliander (1504-1564), with a foreword by Martin Luther. Bibliander made some adjustments to the text, but it is clear that he based his translation on the Lex Mahumet Pseudoprophete, so it had to be still available at this time. The translation of Robert of Ketton probably still circulated and was still available at the end of the Dark Ages and appeared again in print. The purpose of the print was still the study of Islam, thus Martin Luther stated in his foreword. This was the same purpose that Peter the Venerable had in the twelfth century.
Peter the Venerable was a French abbot in Cluny, which was a very important abbey in Europe from the tenth century onwards. Peter traveled a lot and in in the 1140’s he went to Toledo, Spain. In Toledo, he gathered a team of five translators: Robert of Ketton, Herman of Carinthia, Peter of Toledo, Peter of Poitiers and a Muslim by the name Mohammed. Peter gave them the command to translate different, Islamic texts for his own study. The most important work was the translation of the Qur’an by Robert of Ketton.
Robert of Ketton (1110-57) was a well-known translator, but he mostly translated scientific works. He made an exeption by translating the Qur’an for Peter the Venerable. His work was named the Lex Mahumet Pseudoprophete: the law of Mohammed, the false prophet. It was not a strict translation, but Robert tried to interpret the work the same way that Muslims in his opinion would. He also changed the division of the Qur’an from 114 suras to 123 chapters. A lot of critics stated that he made a lot of errors because he wanted to deceive: the Islam was wrong and he wanted to exaggerate that in his translation. But there is a lot of discussion about that: Thomas Burman, by example, states that Robert did not want to deceive, but just made some mistakes. He wanted to show how Muslims interpreted the Islam, instead of just translating it. The Qur’an is a difficult text, even for Muslims, and he just wanted to explain some points in his version of the Qur’an. Also, his version was written in a very complex Latin. If Robert wanted to deceive and make the Islam look bad, why would he write it in such a difficult and high-pitched language? Burman concluded that Robert did not want to deceive, but just made some honest mistakes, which was logical because the text is so hard to understand. But a lot of historians do not agree: Robert did pervert the text, and he was negative about the Islam, just like Peter the Venerable.
Peter indeed was not very positive about the Islam. He wrote that Mohammed was supported by the Devil and that he only got a lot of followers because they feared Mohammed. Peter also describes the Islam as a heresy. But that shows that Peter actually did not know what the Islam was exactly. It was not a heresy within Christianity, it was a new religion, but in the twelfth century, that was not recognized. Everybody viewed the Islam as a heresy within Christianity, and it was often compared with Arianism. But although Peter the Venerable was not very positive about Islam, his view was unique. He was the first that based his opinion on actual, Islamic texts instead of myths and stories. He used those texts to prove that the Islam was wrong and incorrect. This had not been done before and that made him very important for the view of Islam in whole of Western Europe. The translation of the Qur’an was also very important, thus Peter, because it was necessary for Christians to understand the Islam and to be able to disprove it. He got the Qur’an translated, so Christians in Europe could study the Islam. Peter also thought that the Islam should not be fought with violence, but with reason and words. To be able to do so, knowledge of Islam was needed.
The distribution of the first Qur’an
In 1143 the translation of Robert of Ketton was completed and the first one to use this text was Peter the Venerable. He used the Qur’an to write two books on his own: the Summa and the Liber. It is known that the Summa was read by Thomas of Aquino (1225-1274): an important Christian in Italy. The Lex Mahumet also found its way throughout Europe, especially trough France. The oldest manuscript we have today is from the late twelfth century and we think it is an exact copy of the actual work without adjustments. There are almost twenty other copies preserved, so it is very likely that the Lex Mahumet was well-known throughout the Dark Ages. The only strange fact is that there came another translation in the early thirteenth century, also in Spain, by Mark of Toledo. Some historians say that this translation was made, because the Lex Mahumet was not available in Spain at the time. Mark never even mentions the translation of Robert of Ketton, so perhaps the translation did not circulate in Spain. From the translation of Mark, we now have six manuscripts, so we can state that his translation was less well-known than the translation of Robert of Ketton. Most likely, the translation of Robert circulated mostly through France and the North of Europe, while the translation of Mark was more popular in Spain and Italy.
Another reason why it is plausible that the translation of Robert did circulate in the Dark Ages, is that it appeared in a printed version in 1543 by Theodor Bibliander (1504-1564), with a foreword by Martin Luther. Bibliander made some adjustments to the text, but it is clear that he based his translation on the Lex Mahumet Pseudoprophete, so it had to be still available at this time. The translation of Robert of Ketton probably still circulated and was still available at the end of the Dark Ages and appeared again in print. The purpose of the print was still the study of Islam, thus Martin Luther stated in his foreword. This was the same purpose that Peter the Venerable had in the twelfth century.
Other translations
After the translations of Robert of Ketton and Mark of Toledo in the twelfth- and early thirteenth century, there were no other translations of the Qur’an for a long time. Especially in the fourteenth century, it seems like the interest in Islam decreased. It seems like no-one has an explanation for this, but it could be because of the Black Death and the catastrophe that hit Europe because of it. The church had to come up with a reason why the plague happened to Europe, so they did not occupy themselves with the Islam anymore. At the end of the fifteenth century, another translation was made in Italy, but there is not much known about this translation. A more, well-known translation is the one printed by Bibliander in the sixteenth century and much later, by André du Ryer, in French. This was also the first translation of the Qur’an in vernacular.
André du Ryer translated the original Qur’an from Arabic to French so this was the first translation of the Qur’an which was not based on a Latin version. His translation was finished in 1647 in Paris and was also used to translate the Qur’an to English in 1649. Most people were not very happy about this development and saw the Qur’an as a dangerous work for Christians. In the English translation, the reader is warned for this: the foreword states that it is a good thing to know your enemies, but that the reader must not be deceived by the book. It was false and contained a lot of fables.
In the seventeenth century, the Qur’an was still only intended for study. Readers should not think that the stories in the Qur’an were true, but it was a good thing to know your enemies so you would not have to be afraid anymore. Although a lot of people thought that the Qur’an was dangerous for Christians, from the seventeenth century onward, the Qur’an appeared in all different kind of languages.
After the translations of Robert of Ketton and Mark of Toledo in the twelfth- and early thirteenth century, there were no other translations of the Qur’an for a long time. Especially in the fourteenth century, it seems like the interest in Islam decreased. It seems like no-one has an explanation for this, but it could be because of the Black Death and the catastrophe that hit Europe because of it. The church had to come up with a reason why the plague happened to Europe, so they did not occupy themselves with the Islam anymore. At the end of the fifteenth century, another translation was made in Italy, but there is not much known about this translation. A more, well-known translation is the one printed by Bibliander in the sixteenth century and much later, by André du Ryer, in French. This was also the first translation of the Qur’an in vernacular.
André du Ryer translated the original Qur’an from Arabic to French so this was the first translation of the Qur’an which was not based on a Latin version. His translation was finished in 1647 in Paris and was also used to translate the Qur’an to English in 1649. Most people were not very happy about this development and saw the Qur’an as a dangerous work for Christians. In the English translation, the reader is warned for this: the foreword states that it is a good thing to know your enemies, but that the reader must not be deceived by the book. It was false and contained a lot of fables.
In the seventeenth century, the Qur’an was still only intended for study. Readers should not think that the stories in the Qur’an were true, but it was a good thing to know your enemies so you would not have to be afraid anymore. Although a lot of people thought that the Qur’an was dangerous for Christians, from the seventeenth century onward, the Qur’an appeared in all different kind of languages.
Conclusion
In the twelfth century, the first version of the Qur’an was completed in a western language by Robert of Ketton. Peter the Venerable gave the order for the translation. He thought that it was important for Christians to know the Islam and the lies that the Muslims were telling about Jesus and the Bible, and that Christians should know their enemies. The translation of the Qur’an circulated throughout Europe and was even printed in the sixteenth century. It is very plausible that it was very well-known in the North of Europe throughout the Dark Ages. But after the thirteenth century, the interest in the Islam seemed to decrease. There is no actual explanation for this, but it could have something to do with the Black Death which terrorized Europe in the fourteenth century. It took until the seventeenth century before there came a new translation, this time in French.
So although the first translation of the Qur’an appeared in the twelfth century, it took until the seventeenth century to translate it into vernacular and to be available for everybody. In the Dark Ages, the Qur’an was an important work, but probably only for clerks and not for the regular person. Throughout the Dark Ages, the Qur’an was meant for study and readers were made aware of the lies in the Qur’an. Overall we can conclude that the distribution and circulation of the Qur’an was a very long process, started in the twelfth century, but not completed till far in the seventeenth or eighteenth century. The Lex Mahumet Pseudoprophete was an important first step, but it took a long time before the Qur’an was available for a wide audience.
LCS
References and further reading
In the twelfth century, the first version of the Qur’an was completed in a western language by Robert of Ketton. Peter the Venerable gave the order for the translation. He thought that it was important for Christians to know the Islam and the lies that the Muslims were telling about Jesus and the Bible, and that Christians should know their enemies. The translation of the Qur’an circulated throughout Europe and was even printed in the sixteenth century. It is very plausible that it was very well-known in the North of Europe throughout the Dark Ages. But after the thirteenth century, the interest in the Islam seemed to decrease. There is no actual explanation for this, but it could have something to do with the Black Death which terrorized Europe in the fourteenth century. It took until the seventeenth century before there came a new translation, this time in French.
So although the first translation of the Qur’an appeared in the twelfth century, it took until the seventeenth century to translate it into vernacular and to be available for everybody. In the Dark Ages, the Qur’an was an important work, but probably only for clerks and not for the regular person. Throughout the Dark Ages, the Qur’an was meant for study and readers were made aware of the lies in the Qur’an. Overall we can conclude that the distribution and circulation of the Qur’an was a very long process, started in the twelfth century, but not completed till far in the seventeenth or eighteenth century. The Lex Mahumet Pseudoprophete was an important first step, but it took a long time before the Qur’an was available for a wide audience.
LCS
References and further reading
- Burman, Thomas E. Reading the Qur'an in Latin Christendom, 1140-1560. Philedelphia: University of Pensylvania Press, 2007.
- Burman, Thomas E. 'Tafsir and Translation: Traditional Arabic Qur'an Exegesis and the Latin Qur'ans of Robert of Ketton and Mark of Toledo' in Speculum, 73, no 3 (1998), pp. 703-732.
- Burnett, Charles. 'The Coherence of the Arabic-Latin Translation Program in Toledo' in Science in Context, 14 no 2 (2002), pp. 249-288.
- Dijk, Arjan van. 'Early Printed Qur'ans: The Dissemination of the Qur'an in the West' in Journal of Qur'anic Studies, 7 no 2 (2005), pp. 136-143.
- Gray, Andrew. 'Translations of the Qur'an and other Islamic Texts before Dante (Twelfth and Thirteenth Century) in Dante Studies, no 125 (2007), pp. 79-92.
- Haskins, Charles Homer. The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1955.
- Kritzeck, James. Peter the Venerable and Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964.
- Riley-Smith, Jonathan. The Crusades, Christianity and Islam. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
- Siddiqui, Mona (ed.) The Routledge Reader in Christian-Muslim Relations. New York: Routledge, 2013.
- Tolan, John V. Saracens: Islam in the Medieval European Imagination. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.